Historic Smithville Big Pickle Adventure

Thanks for reading another post from another pickle blog where I celebrate a Big Pickle Adventure in Historic Smithville. Have you ever visited Smithville? What a wonderful place! Located on Rt. 9 in Smithville, NJ., the village is filled with unique retail shops and restaurants. There are three big reasons my family and I visit Smithville including The Underground Shop which is one of the last remaining rock stores in the land dedicated to punk and the weirdness that is Jersey (with one-of-a -kind Jersey themed t-shirts, mugs, patches and stickers). Another reason is the events that The Underground sponsors including the annual Art Walk, the Rockabilly Uprising and the very popular Monster Bash. A third reason is that Smithville is FILLED with Pokestops and gyms. 

But this time we were on the hunt for pickles and one of the pickle posse knew exactly where to go - The House of Jerky. Located across from the historic Smithville Inn, this place is wall-to-wall jerky of every variety including beef, turkey, biltong, venison, shark and python. Just an amazing for jerky fans! As many of you know, a House of Jerky is a house of JOY! And yet - is it a house of pickles?

But of course! Specialty pickles from Kilhaney's Pickles, pickled Jersey Fresh, were on the shelf including the jar I took home for tasting! I was so thrilled to find out that this pickle company is located in Hackettstown, NJ. There was a great selection of products, all complete with colorful labels and clever names. The Mango Tango version I bought has pickled mangoes and green peppers, making the pickles sweet and spicy. I do not really have any scale to rate them on or Pickle Meter to rank them with, but I will certainly be drinking the juice when the last slice is eaten.

Meanwhile, the Mango Tango pickles were served as part of the pickle bar at Saturday night's chicken wing dinner. Other selections included Sweet Bread and Butter and also Dill slices from Market Pantry brands at Target. These pickles are good for filling slots in the bar because you can help yourself at the price, compared to insisting on savoring the Kilhaney's. I am no stranger to designer pickles having been a Philly Bill's Dills fan for years (yet ANOTHER reason to visit Smithville as they were a vendor at last summer's Farmers Market and I could stop there on my way home from work hooray). So we savored the Mango Tangos and made sure to try the pickled mango as part of the experience. Delicious!

So visit The House of Jerky in Smithville, Cape May, Ocean City and LBI to pick up some Kilhaney's Pickles and, of course, so jerky for your jerky blog!